The Unexplained Experiment
by read stripes
Summary: My hands shook as I slowly moved the door forward. I was free. Max was staring at me, but she seemed more baffled than scared. How had I done that? In book one, after Max, Fang, Nudge and Angel were captured, the whitecoats brought in a strange new experiment. She has wings, but they are different then the rest of the flock's, and she doesn't remember any of her past.
1. Chapter 1

I pried my eyes open, and I felt the hands dragging me tighten. My newfound wings were at my side, limp and useless. They were still bloody. My entire body ached, as if I had been shoved into a way-too-small cardboard box and had been taken to a storage unit for a few weeks. When we got to the room that _They_ were taking me too, I realized I had a fate much worse. _Dog crates._

By now you are probably wondering who I am. But that's just the thing: I don't know.

Max P.O.V.

It was in the middle of the night when they brought her in. The room was pitch black, but I knew the entire flock was awake. It was kinda hard to sleep when you knew that evil scientist might come in give you a little background: we (Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy(Gasman), Angel, and me, Maximum Ride) are mutant bird freaks. We grew up around the evil scientists (as earlier mentioned) who experimented on us. Then we escaped. Now we were back again. We were all scrunched up in dog cages, so it was extremely uncomfortable to begin with. When you added wings, you had so little room you could barely move, and if you did it was painful. The room was white, with no windows. There was a pair of doors at the front of the room that were locked and probably chained from the outside. Florescent lights lined the ceiling, but now they were turned off. We called it the School.

A small sliver of light came from the door when it opened, but we didn't need it to see what happened. See, we have raptor vision. It sorta came with the whole "mutant bird kid" thing. Two scientist from me told him that everyone was too exhausted to try and escape. They brought her in and threw her in an empty dog crate near mine. As they did, something dark and feathery stuck out. The whitecoats quickly shoved it back in at an awkward angle. I stared at the spot where it disappeared. She shifted and I saw it again. I turned slightly to look at Fang's face. For once, he showed his emotions. His eyes were wide and his mouth was gawping, forming a perfect o. Because he and I were thinking the same thing. _This girl had wings. _

I tried to shift in the restricted area. They had shoved my wing in unnecessarily hard, and it was wedged between me and the cage. Whenever I moved, I heard the strange sound of metal on metal. Even though I was in near-darkness, I could see everything perfectly fine. Maybe night vision came with the wings. Ha. I wish. I twisted my body again, trying to get comfortable. If I wanted to get any sleep, I would have to press my wings against my back. I tried, but I couldn't unless I wanted to rip my shirt. The slits in my shirt was way too small. Probably because my wings were all scrunched up when they pulled them out. I winced at the memory. _Rrrriiiipppppp! _My wings ripped straight through my shirt. I picked up one of my feathers that had fallen of my wings. I picked it up. It was perfectly grafted. I wonder if theres anyone like me, I thought absently as I curled up into a ball. Just with wings. I didn't think anyone has wings like mine. After all, they were made of metal.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you to everyone's who's read: You guys bring happiness into my life! This is my first fanfic, so please leave a review.**

Max POV

I didn't sleep all night; I was way too intrigued about the new _thing_ the whitecoates brought in. Whatever it was obviously had wings, but how could it be one of us? I'd never seen him, or her, before, and, I mean, the school is big, but the whitecoats usually grouped their types of experiments together, which is how the flock came to be. He (or she, once again) was rustling in his (or her) sleep. I couldn't tell if Fang was asleep or not, but there was no way I could talk to him, as the whitecoats have probably installed microphones in our dog crates. I could tell that Nudge was trying to not fall asleep, afraid that the whitecoats would come and get her. Angel was probably exhausted, but too sad that we were captured too to sleep. How did I know this? Because they were my flock, my family, stuck once again in the place that still haunts our worst nightmares. I wished that this was a nightmare: then, at least, I would be able to wake up and realize that it was just my imagination that told me that Angel had gotten captured, or that when we came after her we got captured too. That's what I hated about the whitecoats bringing whatever-gender-it-was in: I did not have enough imagination to bring _that_ into my dreams.

He (or she) moved again and his (or her) wing became visible to me, just for a moment, before he (or she) shuffled back. I must have seen it wrong. It looked like it was…._glittering._ Oh, boy. Now I really was going crazy.

(OC's POV)

I dreamed about the pain. The pain that spread everywhere as my stomach lurched back and forth, feeling like it was splitting in half. There was an earsplitting pounding in my head, but still the scientists came and gave me shots, into my bloodstream, into my back, my leg, one straight into my heart. I felt like someone had opened up my back and shoved a goose down it, then sewed me back up. I must have been there for days, months, and I felt nothing but the pain, the pain. After a while, one of the scientists came to me with scissors. My vision blurred in and out of focus, but when I could see clearly, I was immediately blinded again by a searing pain down my back, someone reaching in and pulling out the goose. I hear a scream in my ears, and realize that it is mine.

My dream changes. I see a man, a tall man with hair so blond it was white, in really fancy clothes, though the details blur in and out of focus, like bad radio connection. He walks over to me and grabs my shoulders, tight, very, very tight. I knew I should try and fight, but I couldn't find the strength. He brings me along, his grip growing tighter and tighter, until we come to a different room that was must have been the kitchen, but it was _huge._ He let go of me for a split second and grabbed something blurry, something that I couldn't quite make out. Grinning wickedly, the man shoved it toward my stomach. I wake to the sound of my dog cage door opening.

Max POV

It turns out,

The thing the whitecoats brought in is a girl

Said girl is pretty much like the rest of us

She doesn't remember anything from her past

The School does not offer pancakes to newbies

They also do not offer cookies to not-so-newbies

Whitecoats have focus groups

How do I know all this? Well, three whitecoats came in about 2 in the morning. How do I know this? I just do. My survival instinct kicks in and somehow, I know what time it is. Anyway, they turned on the bright florescent lights and came to draw blood out of the new girl's arm. If you think that an alarm clock is an unpleasant way to wake up, you obviously have not woken up to the smell of Kleenex, with bright fluorescents glaring you in the face and an evil doctor come to draw blood from you. Just saying. So, the whitecoats come in and open the door of the new girl's crate. The whitecoat with the needle held out his hand impatiently. The girl tucked both of her arms behind her and glared at him in response. Hmm, I like her, I thought as the two continued. The whitecoat reached into the crate, grabbed her, and yanked her toward him, smashing her face against the side. She didn't even grunt. She's one tough bird. Ha, ha, ha, you know, 'cuz she's part bird? Never mind. "Be careful with it! You might upset the experiments!" one of the other whitecoats said. "Isn't it supposed to be extra-durable?" the whitecoat with the needle replied. Extra-durable?

"Stop squabbling! We're moving them anyway, after those others came with their stupid eagle act." I could practically hear Nudge snap to attention. Others? Did that mean Iggy and Gazzy? Oh, crap. If they got captured….

"We're moving _all_ of them?" the second whitecoat said. "Yes, where they'll meet the others," the third whitecoat seemed to know what was what. But why were they saying so much? Then I realized that they were talking under their voices. I sometimes missed out on stuff, because I could hear about 10X better than regular humans. They even knew that, so ….. why? The whitecoats sometimes underestimated us but _this_ was something else.

They did move us. To. Freaking. Bird cages. I'm serious. They moved us to a giant room that was higher than I thought the School had. There were huge, and I mean _huge, _cages hanging from the ceiling, with huge thick bars surrounding them. The new girl turned to me, and, she must not be shy, mouthed _Are they serious? _

Then, the devil himself came.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you so much to anyone who has viewed! Thank you to Knight Pan and abc11111 for actually daring to favorite this story. I don't own Max Ride (sadly)**

(Max POV)

Jeb walked in, completely nonchalant, like he _wasn't_ dead everyday. He was obviously one of the whitecoats. Get this: he dared to look like he cared the slightest bit about us. And, this just gets worse and worse, Gazzy and Iggy were being hauled over to the bird cages too, looking completely down and…shocked. They were just as surprised to see (not literally, in Iggy's case) Jeb as I was.

"Max, it's good to see you again." Jeb said. "Is there anything I can get you?"

"Ooooohhhhhhh, yeeeaaaaahhhh," The new girl said, "You know, just stuck in this place, aching all over, and surrounded by freak scientist who want to experiment on me and shove needles in my gut, but I am _totally _craving blueberry pancakes." Hm. Guess the new girl couldn't be that bad.

Then….I laughed. Like, aloud. Stuck in the middle of the School, my entire family now trapped with me, and I was hysterical enough to laugh at some new experiment who could just be a spy from the School's joke. I was definitely losing it now. Iggy and Gazzy looked plain confused, Gazzy staring at the girl strangely, and Iggy staring around the room, confused of what was going on. Wait. Gazzy was staring at the girl _really_ strangely, and I realized that the girl was …. Kinda….. Pretty. Gazzy was staring at the girl because she was pretty. I mean, she had long tangled hair like me, but it was so black, it would seem dark compared to a crow. She had bright green eyes that reminded me of someone….oh, well. I'll figure it out later. But, if you knew Gazzy, the thought of him staring at a girl because she was pretty, instead of to plan an awesome prank on her, was plain wrong.

Everyone was looking at me now. I cleared my throat. Too late to take back my laugh, I said "Yeah, _Jeb_ I totally wanted some cookies." Just saying his name brought a ball into my throat. This man took my family out of the School. When he died, it took a long time for the flock to get over it. But they did. Then, he was here? Is this some kind of sick joke?

Then he laughed. The little (insert your choice of swear word here) had the nerve to laugh. Adrenalin was already pumping through my veins, and I wanted to pay back for the years that he was gone, the loneliest time of my life, when he was here, being evil. Did he ever care about us?

"I'm afraid not, Max, and….. what's your name?" He asked the new girl with polite interest. My body tensed up. I was ready to fight. Instinctively, I turned to look at Fang. He shook his head, ever so slightly. Warning me to wait.

"You should know that I don't remember." The girl said between her teeth. No name? She looked to be about my age, and everyone in my flock adopted names way before that. Don't remember? "Ahhh, yes." Jeb said, looking like he finally understood everything. He gave her a huge smile. She glared in response. "How about her age?" Jeb was talking to the other whitecoats, the ones who had brought Gazzy and Iggy in. "Ummmmmm….Are you sure _they_ should know?" He was talking about our flock. I was about ready to tear off his head. _Control _I thought. "Why shouldn't they? I am sure she is very confused."

"She's uhhhh….. 13 years." The whitecoat looked like he was holding in a _sir_ at the end of that sentence. So, not only was Jeb an evil scientist at the place my entire flock despised, but he was respected. Oohhhh, boy.

-line break-

(OC POV)

They loaded us into the cages with a huge ladder and a very official looking key. The oldest girl looked like she was about to explode on the new guy that came in. I didn't know what to make of him. He acted like he didn't know who I was. Maybe he just wasn't involved in my uh…. Transformation, if you will. The others were obviously like me, but they seemed to know eachother. Even the ten-year-old and teenager knew them. I could tell that they didn't trust me. I mean, I was a thirteen-year-old who didn't know my own name, had wings like them, and the whitecoats were supposedly more interested in me, I was 'extra durable', and didn't remember a thing about my past, not even about growing up here, though the others seemed to have.

The dark-skinned girl muttered under her breath, "I can't believe that they actually put us in bird cages." There was no way that was actually what she said, though. The cages were at least ten feet apart, and she was talking in something quieter than a whisper. But still, I felt like she somehow expected all of us to hear it and was waiting for a response. No one was saying anything, so I gave another go at humor, remembering how I made the oldest girl, Max, smile. "Maybe they focus-grouped it," I suggested. She laughed, and so did Max. The others, I realized, were talking among their selves. Some of them were, anyway. The small boy was talking to the red-haired teenager, and the little girl, who was obviously the sister of the other boy's sister, was talking to Max. The tall/dark/handsome was sitting by himself in his cage, lost in thought.

I got bored. Fast. After about a week, I was going so crazy with boredom that I wanted to try and count the atoms of my bars, just for something to do. I went with the next best thing: smashing the bars between my fingers so hard that they hurt.

The other people- I don't even know what to call them- seemed anxious that the whitecoats had only looked at us hanging from the ceiling. I had been fingering the bar so much that it had become habit, and because I had rubbed over almost every piece of this cage, I knew it pretty well, and I had finally found some things to be OCD about! It really helped my boredom issues. There was a spot that jutted way too far out on one side of the cage. I rubbed and rubbed and rubbed and rubbed and rubbed at it, until, I swear, it began going down. One day, I realized I was rubbing at a smooth bar. Oh. I must have been on the wrong side of the cage. I moved over to the other side. Huh. Completely smooth. I am truly losing it. I wonder if this is how other experiments go.

Then, I discovered two things: one, I am an idiot. Two, (duh) if my wings were made of metal, was it like the night vision? Could I….control metal? That would be one awesome freakin' upside to being abducted by evil scientists.

I raised my hand, slowly. I was shaking so hard I could hardly grab hold of the bars. When I did, I imagined the bar twisting, morphing, into the shape of my hand. It was harder than I thought it would be. Imagine lifting two of the world's strongest magnets together while they're facing the wrong direction. I pushed against the bar with all the strength I could find, and, after what must have been half an hour, I let go. The bar was at least half the size it had been before. I felt like I had just ran three marathons nonstop while carrying an elephant. "How did you do that?" the dark-skinned girl asked suspiciously. "I…..I have no idea."


	4. Chapter 4

**Heya! For any of you who actually care, so so so so sorry for not updating! Please leave a review, etc., And please give me suggestions on what the OC's name should be, because she will get a name. ********I don't own Max Ride, Mr. Awesome Patterson does.**

(Max POV)

I was having a bad day. I mean, if getting violently removed from the bird cages that I was violently forced into wasn't enough, the whitecoats had to force all of us to climb barbed wire fences to see how fast we would recover from the 'exercise.' And yes, I _was_ seriously downplaying the bad language. Oh, and just to make it worse, little traitor Jeb was there. My entire flock-and a girl who had mysterious amnesia and was probably a spy for the whitecoats- was stuck in a place that made me want to retch just thinking about it. So, yeah, for all those who are keeping track for the record books, this one is a mega-whopper.

Anyway, the whitecoats moved us from the cages. They led us through room after room and through a back door until we stood in a small back yard. We were outside. I could feel it in every fiber of my being, every breath that I took, not to be poetic or anything. There was a huge fence weaved with barbed wire that looked large and threatening. There were whitecoats surrounding me tightly, making sure I didn't even have the opportunity to think of escape, and I was feeling more and more claustrophobic. _Fight or Flight, Fight or Flight!_ My brain was yelling at me. I had to make a decision, had to do something.

-don't mind me, I'm just a little line break-

(OC's POV)

My hands hurt. A lot. Really, what was wrong with these people? What had happened that was so bad in their childhood that it forced them to turn into evil scientists that wanted to tear you apart just to see what happened? Just wondering.

After climbing the 'death fence,' they just returned us to our cages. I think that is what scared me most. I mean, Max and her gang seemed to expect something else, but. Nothing. Else. Came. It was like the silence before Armageddon.

When we got back to the cages, I practiced again. And again. And again. I was trying to either scrunch the bars enough that I could slip through, or to mutilate the lock. I wasn't trying very hard on the first idea, as that would probably take so long that I would be moved to a different cage before I could finish it. But the thing is, this is a huge lock. It's probably both of my hands put together, and I wasn't having much luck. Every time I tried, I got so tired I could barely do anything on it before I passed out from exhaustion. My hands were bloody. The lock was bloodier. I put everything I had into it. All of my confusion from my missing memories, all of my anger at the stupid scientists, all of my hope and irritation and curiosity about the other people was poured into it. I felt it dent. Then bend, then twist, and I imagined that the lock would just melt into the bar next to it. Then it happened. The lock was gone perfectly fine. The scientists weren't even watching. I mean, thy had been watching us for weeks and must have eventually gotten bored out of their minds. They didn't notice as I slowly moved the door forward. My hands were shaking. I was free. Max was staring at me, but she seemed more confused than scared. How had I done that? I didn't know, but I did know I was free.


End file.
